I Have No Idea How This Happened

January 29, 2012

Last night I realized that my finger was really bothering me. I looked down at my hand and realized my wedding ring had been smashed into a flat, oblong shape. This is not the actual shape of my finger, so my poor digit was getting squished. It took a lot of hand lotion and some serious work to get that ring over my poor knuckle. I'm not even sure right now if I could get it back on. This is pretty much what my ring looks like now.

How it happened, I have no idea. Wouldn't you think I would have noticed doing something that would have bent the ring so out of shape? But no, I have no idea. We've got to get off to the jewelers to get it fixed as soon as possible--I hate not wearing my wedding ring!

Fluffy is Only Cute Up to a Certain Point

January 28, 2012

My fluffy used to be cute--cuddly, adorable. (At least that's what I told myself in my head.)Lately, though, the fluffy has gotten out of hand. Not so very cute anymore.

If I don't get myself in gear, this fluffy is going to turn into something akin to a Yeti. Not adorable. Not even a little tiny bit....Definitely need to avail myself of that gym membership I just signed up for, to find the cute again.

That New Car Smell....

January 17, 2012

My Honda Odyssey has been something of a money pit over the years. Up until this mini-van, I have always loved Hondas--efficient, reliable, spacious. But this one that I got cost way too much (courtesy of a balloon payment at the end of my lease from the previous vehicle), and it has had all kinds of things we've had to repair along the way. A key that wouldn't turn in the ignition. (We replaced the ignition switch, so that we had separate keys for the doors and for the ignition.) Oh yeah--the door keys only worked selectively on the doors. Rarely for the driver's side, only occasionally for the passenger side. Mostly we relied on unlocking the trunk to unlock all the other doors. Then there is the air conditioner, which suddenly stopped working in the 100+ degree weather last summer. Since it was supposed to cost nearly $1200 dollars to repair the system, our solution to the no air conditioning situation (I get cranky when I'm too hot) was to trade cars with Doug during the summer. Since his commute to work takes him an hour up into the foothills, the heat wasn't as much of a factor for him. Plus, he's not a princess, like me. He'll tolerate sweat. Add all that to some minor cosmetic issues--windows that screeched horribly when I wanted them raised or lowered, plus a few dings in the windshield--and you have a car with issues. Nothing terrible, nothing insurmountable, but still--issues. This is all besides the fact that it was a boring silver color. Ugh. Not beautiful blue, not racy red. Just blah.

Nevertheless, it was drivable, workable. We made it work. It was sufficient for hauling around kids and friends and soccer balls and stacks of books and just-about-everything-but-the kitchen-sink which comprises what my kids and I cart about with us on any given day. It was working, until we hit the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. This particular straw came in the form of a Friday evening trip to the bank. Mind you, this was Friday night on the last day of the month, when lines can be out the door. We drove into the parking stall, took care of our banking needs, and then got back in the car to leave. Except that the car wouldn't go into reverse. Or rather, it did go into reverse; there was just no corresponding movement in that direction. I tried everything, including coaxing, coddling, bargaining. But try bargaining with an oversized piece of tin. It's just futile. I called Doug asking for advice, and he thought I should put the van in neutral, push it back out of the stall, and then shift into drive. My worry, however, was that I'd get it pushed back and manage to block the pathway of all the folks who were driving into the lot for their Friday evening banking needs. (There is only a single lane driveway into the bank,) I assure you, that would have been worse than staying put. I didn't want to have a mob of angry people behind me in addition to having a colossaly uncooperative vehicle. Finally, after closing hour at the bank, my car decided inexplicably to actually shift into reverse. Once backed out, I was able to shift into drive, and drive I did---straight to the auto mechanic. There, I was given grim news. In addition to all of its other quirky issues, my van's transmission was shot. The problem was only going to get worse if I did not send it in for repair, to the tune of $2100. I don't know about you,. but I don't happen to have $2100 just lying around in loose change. However, having a car that only sporadically decided to travel in reverse would simply not do, and it was my understanding that the forward motion only had a short shelf life as well. It was time for a new car.

After doing some online research and looking around at local lots, we settled in on a greenish gray Prius. The MPG is, of course, leaps and bounds above what the van was getting, and certainly much better than Doug's Durango gets as well. We've decided that Doug will mostly drive the Prius while he's commuting an hour or so each way to work every day, because we'll save quite a bit in gas money. In the meantime, I'll be using his Durango for the daily Mom Taxi Service. For now, the van haunts the driveway, big lumbering hunk of tin that it is, until we can pay it down enough to make selling it a viable option.

The new ride:

NHS Induction Ceremony

January 12,2012

As co-advisor for the National Honor Society this year, I got to be one of the ones in charge of putting on our high school's Induction Ceremony. I'm really proud to say that so many of these amazing kids are not just in our NHS, but are in my class as well.Our NHS President, Miss Kaitlyn
Victory, me, and all of our officers.

Nicholas' First Winter Formal

January 8, 2012

Three or four days after my camera was stolen, it suddenly dawned on my that the following Saturday was Nicholas' first Winter Formal. Both my sister and my ex-husband, both of whom know how much it means to me to be a historian of sorts, had offered me the temporary use of their cameras, and I can't tell you how much that meant to me. However, Doug also knew that no matter what, he wanted to make sure we got my camera replaced. He knew it was the one thing I'd really want to splurge on, since it's something that I use all the time. He took me to Best Buy, and we shopped for cameras. The big brother of my stolen camera was on sale, and we couldn't pass it up. I was ecstatic to be able to use it to take pictures of my very handsome young man and his lovely date at the Buchanan Winter Formal.

Doug and Nicholas, getting ready for the dance. It was really sweet to see Doug helping Nicholas with his cuff links and his tie. Am I a little emotional? Yes. Yes I am. I remember a Winter Formal many years ago when Doug was putting on his own cuff links and tie, and picking me up for our Formal date.Mama's handsome boy.

It was pretty fun, actually, the whole week prior to the dance, when Doug and I tried to impart little gems of dating wisdom to him. When your first date ever is a Winter Formal, it's kind a high bar.

"Even if you don't want to dance, dance. It's her first dance, too, and you don't want her first high school dance to be one where she sits in a chair all night."

"Don't forget that you have to budget for tip for your dinner. And tax."

"Take a toothbrush so you can brush your teeth after dinner. You don't want to slow dance with the girl when there's a piece of lettuce stuck in your braces."

"Have a few conversation starters already planned, in case you're not sure what to talk about at dinner."

"At some point in time in the evening, make sure you tell your date she looks pretty. She probably will have spent a lot of time and effort to dress up for the dance--let her know you appreciate it."

"Look her in the eye when you're talking to her."

"Whatever you do, if there's a t.v. on in the restaurant, don't sit facing it. You get distracted far too easily by t.v., and you'll stop talking to her."

"When her mom picks her up from the dance, be sure to walk her out to the car. Don't just wave and let her walk out by herself. Also, if she's cold, offer her your tux jacket to wear."

"Make her laugh, and you won't go wrong."

And to his credit, he didn't balk or get embarrassed, or even roll his eyes when we dropped these little hints throughout the week. He just took it all in.

Nicholas and his best friend, Edward.
Nicholas and his date, Pearl. (Pearl is Edward's cousin.) They all went out to dinner together at Red Robin before the dance.








I thought perhaps Nicholas might not dance, but his whole group got out and rocked out together.
When I drove Nicholas home, he said he'd had a lot of fun. Of course, he might have just been saying that because he thought that's what I wanted to hear. But his Facebook status later that night: WINTER FORMAL: AWESOME. BEST NIGHT EVER.

My little boy is growing up, and I couldn't be happier!

Hey, Batter Batter....Swing!

January 5, 2012

Annual softball game pictures, courtesy of my sister, who was kind enough to lend me her camera since my beautiful camera apparently belongs to someone else now.

New Year's Eve, 2012

January 5, 2012

Five...Four...Three...Two....One!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My good friend Julieann joined us for a very family-friendly celebration including cousins, Scattergories, sparkling apple cider, and homestyle version of karaoke!
This is the guy I want to spend all of my New Year's Eves with, til we're very old and gray.
As always, two peas in a pod--Devin and Danielle
Miss Bailey
Lisa and Laura
It's the Mayes girls!

Skywalk, Where the Adults Get to Act Just Like the Kids

January 5, 2012

When the whole family was in town for the holiday, we piled everyone into the car and headed out to Skywalk. What a great way to spend the afternoon! The kids can jump around and just be kids. And the adults? We get to jump around like kids, too. By the end of our time there, the kids were still jumping like kangaroos. We, on the other hand, were recovering on the sidelines.

A Little West Side Story, Anyone?

January 5, 2012

So--I thought I'd post some beautiful pictures up to ring in the New Year. I generally try to have my camera with me everywhere. It's one my hubby got me as a birthday gift, and I have been completely in love with it for the past year and a half. You know--my first 'big girl' camera. I absolutely love it. More accurately, I absolutely loved it. Because the night before New Year's Eve, someone decided they were more deserving of owning my camera than I was, and it walked out the door and disappeared.

We were out celebrating at our regular karaoke spot. A lot of our friends are musical theater-types, and some of us started bandying about new ideas for songs to sing. West Side Story came up. I love the music from that show! We could sing "I Feel Pretty," or "America." Who doesn't love that one? Little did we know, that conversation was a bit of foreshadowing for the night that would follow.

We had a big group of friends there that night--we were one of two large parties enjoying our evening. I had my camera there to capture the fun. At one point, my sisters and I were all up singing, and one of my friends was snapping shots. We were all having a great time, dancing and laughing. At the end of the song, my friend set the camera down on our table, and I stepped out to the patio to cool down. Suddenly, one of my other friends came running out to me to tell me she'd just seen someone from the other party walk out the door with my camera.

Oh, it was a smooth transaction. Apparently, one guy nonchalantly picked up the camera and deposited it at the end of the table closest to the front door. Another young man, the one my friend happened to see, wandered over the end of the table and picked up the camera and walked out the door. By the time my friend told me, the whole second party had exited the parking lot and the camera was passed off to yet another person, who jumped in the car and drove away. (Luckily, someone was able to get the license number as they were leaving.)

As soon as we all realized what was happening, my whole party ran out the door as well and tried to identify the person who had picked up the camera. Since it was no longer in anyone's possession, tempers flared. I assume the majority of the folks in the parking lot genuinely had no idea what had transpired, but they suddenly found themselves in the midst of a search for stolen property, and felt themselves attacked and falsely accused. It got pretty ugly very quickly, especially given the fact that several members of both parties had been drinking. Suddenly, there was yelling on both sides, and the argument came very close to a physical altercation. One of the other party even threatened to go get his gun out his car. It suddenly occured to me that things could turn downright dangerous very quickly if something didn't happen to diffuse the situation.

Honestly, I was in tears the whole time, not really just because I love my camera, but because I had just take all our family Christmas pictures on that camera. My SD card was full of my kids and my whole family, not to mention birthday parties and choir concerts. That's what someone had stolen from me--not just my camera. I told the manager of the place (who was valiantly trying to keep everyone calm) that I didn't even care if the camera got back to me--I just wanted that SD card back. It was a long shot, but I thought I would at least throw that out there in case anyone overheard and took pity on me and decided to anonymously return the SD card to the restaurant at a later date. (No such luck, by the way.)

By the time the police arrived, it really had escalated to a West Side Story us-versus-them showdown, with posturing and insults and high tension and emotion. No choreography, though. That would have lightened the mood a bit, I think. No rhyming lyrics, either. All of the frustration and anger, and none of the feel-good musical beats to back it up. Pretty much the worst version of West Side Story, basically. Eventually we all dispersed, crawled into our respective cars, and called it a night. The officer did, in fact, make a little house call to the address belonging to the car that got away, but of course he denied having the camera as well. Sadly, the camera has never been recovered. The only thing we're left with is a slightly uneasy feeling about heading back to a place that had been a little bit of a home away from home for us on Saturday evenings.

Hello 2012

January 1, 2012

Some people think that New Year's resolutions are trite, cliched. They think they're doomed to fail by virute of the fact, I presume, that folks feel they have to make 'em even if they're not committed to them. Something of a fantasy wishlist, rather than real, true goals one has to work at in order to see come to fruition. The way I see it, though, is that a resolution is a marker--a starting point. Sometimes the course of the race changes along the way, and sometimes a flood wipes out the path in front of me and I have to find an alternate route, or even an alternate destination. I'm okay with that. If I set a goal, at least I have an initial map--I know where I want to go. And I'm certainly not going to beat myself up if I decide at a later point to turn left instead of right--it just means I'm open-minded and flexible (which are fine traits, if you ask me). When I don't even have a starting point, though, I haven't even gotten up from the couch to join the race. THAT certainly isn't going to get me anywhere.